NARATHIWAT: Suspected Islamist insurgents have shot dead four Muslim men while one militant was killed by security officials in Thailand`s restive southern provinces, police said Wednesday.A 50-year-old villager was shot dead at his home late Tuesday in Narathiwat province while in

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has attended a concert marking "victory" in the Korean War, official media said Wednesday, as US and South Korean forces pressed on with a military exercise to deter Pyongyang.Kim hailed his country`s "shining victory" during a concert marking

HERAT: Twenty civilians were killed and another 27 injured when a crowded bus hit a Taliban-style roadside bomb in southwestern Afghanistan early Wednesday, an official said.The bus was travelling on a highway in the Delaram district of Nimroz province when the blast occured, provincial

ING: At least six people died and dozens were seriously injured on Wednesday after an explosion at an abandoned plastics and chemicals factory in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, state media said.   The official Xinhua news agency said its reporters sawburnt corpses being carried

PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy telephoned Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening to discuss the peace process, a statement from his office said.The French leader stressed two both men "the urgency of relaunching the peace

TORREON: Eight human heads were found early Tuesday in four separate places near roadsides outside the northern Mexico city of Durango, the local prosecutor`s office said.Police found the heads within the space of two and a half hours due to anonymous tip-offs, "but had not identified the

MANILA: Philippine police on Wednesday said they used Facebook to track down a Filipino computer technician blamed for the gruesome murders of nine people, three of them foreigners.The suspect, Mark Dizon, 28, was captured by police Tuesday in San Fernando City north of Manila after his

PARIS: France is "at war" with Al-Qaeda and will step up military involvement in North Africa after the regional branch of the jidahist group killed a French aid worker, the prime minister said Tuesday."We are at war with Al-Qaeda," Francois Fillion said in a radio interview."The fight

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon cannot properly account for nearly nine billion dollars in Iraqi oil revenues and other funds received for reconstruction programs after the 2003 US invasion, a US audit found Tuesday."The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and

BANGALORE: British Prime Minister David Cameron kicks off a much-touted visit to India Wednesday, aimed at winning over a key business partner seen as vital to boosting Britain`s post-recession recovery.Flanked by a bevy of top ministers and a small army of business luminaries, Cameron

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers opposed to the Afghan war, emboldened by a huge leak of military files on the conflict, pushed Tuesday for pulling US forces from Pakistan in a blunt challenge to President Barack Obama.The House of Representatives was expected to vote on both an emergency

TOKYO: Japan will delay the release of an annual defense white paper to avoid angering South Korea over a territorial row, ahead of the centennial of Japan`s rule of Korea, reports said Wednesday.The rare decision reflects Tokyo`s eagerness to avoid any action that could provoke South

MOSCOW - Russia said on Tuesday that new EU sanctions on Iran undermined international efforts to resolve concerns over its nuclear program, tempering hopes of closer cooperation between Moscow and the West on the issue.EU foreign ministers on Monday approved a range of extra restrictions

KABUL - The remains of one of two U.S. sailors who went missing in Afghanistan last week have been found in the east of the country, the NATO-led force said on Tuesday, and troops were still searching for the second man.The two men, serving with the U.S. Navy, went missing on Friday after

LONDON - Four in 10 people who say they voted for the Liberal Democrats would not have done so if they had known the party would enter in to a coalition with the Conservatives, according to a survey Monday.The LibDems joined forces with the Conservatives after an inconclusive general

CANBERRA - Australia`s campaign for the August 21 election has hit a gender divide. Opinion polls and a nationally televised debate have found women are throwing their support behind Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australia`s first female prime minister, who took over from Kevin Rudd on

ROME - Two teenagers from the suburbs of Rome have become Italy`s newest media heroines after their slang-filled account of a day at the beach shot from a minor item on the local news to become a YouTube sensation. Debora and Romina have featured in TV news bulletins

NEW DELHI - The Indian government is planning to create a $11-billion debt fund to bridge a funding shortfall and ease the financing of power sector projects, Mint newspaper reported on Tuesday citing a government official."The fund is in the process of being formulated," the paper quoted

KHARTOUM - Britain wants to boost its trade links with Sudan despite US sanctions and the international arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir over the Darfur conflict, a British minister said on Monday."One of our top priorities is to increase trade with different countries around

WASHINGTON - The White House warned BP on Monday that any decision to replace under-fire CEO Tony Hayward would not change its obligation to clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and compensate victims."The CEO of BP ... if he makes the decision for him to leave -- that is one thing,"